Immigrants in Our Own Land

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1977

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Symbols & Motifs

Old World/New Land

The phrase “old world” is used three times in the poem (Lines 10, 20, 61), which underlies its significance. In all three instances, it refers to life before prison whereas the word “new” typically refers to incoming inmates, “new immigrants” (Line 55), who are just arriving to prison, "the new land” (Line 8). In the context of immigration, the “old world” refers to an immigrant’s country of origin, most frequently used for European countries (for more on that, see Themes). While Baca uses the phrase in part to establish the analogy between prisoners and immigrants, “old world” stands more broadly for a previous stage in life which one must leave behind. Some people’s lives are radically changed because persecution or poverty forces them to leave their native countries. For others, a criminal conviction entailing a prison sentence profoundly transforms their life. The contrasting phrases “old world” and “new land” symbolize the immensity of that change. It requires initiation into the new life: new clothes, new documents, shots, counselors, tests (Lines 3-9). It engenders hope for improvement (Lines 20-24), usually unfulfilled (Lines 38-41). Inmates remember the “old world” with scorn because they were mistreated there (Lines 33-37), but also with nostalgia, “talking about how good the old world was” (Line 61). The old world/new land dichotomy is Baca’s poetic way of presenting to the reader the complex and dynamic relationship between an inmate’s life before prison and during incarceration.

False Promises

At the beginning of the third stanza, the speaker says, “We came here [prison] to get away from false promises” (Line 33). In this passage, “false promises” belong to the life before prison and refer to the foundations of American democracy, the very reason why so many immigrants have been attracted to the United States: equality and freedom from oppression. Some immigrants flee countries run by dictators, but the speaker alleges that American police officers sometimes behave like “dictators in our neighborhoods” (Line 34)—breaking doors, making arrests, “swinging clubs and shooting guns” (Line 37) with unnecessary brutality. The implication is that in certain (poor, primarily minority) neighborhoods, the police behave differently than they behave elsewhere (wealthy, primarily white neighborhoods), turning equality and freedom from oppression into false promises. But “it’s no different” in prison, only more “concentrated” (Line 38). The promise of education becomes the reality of exploitation (Lines 20-25). The promise of the criminal justice system to treat inmates humanely and allow them to maintaining basic dignity is compromised when “sinks don’t work” (Line 49), “a toilet [is] overflowing” (Line 51), or “heaters don’t work” (Line 52). The result of false promises, in and out of prison, is social alienation and disaffection which make rehabilitation difficult and recidivism (reoffending) more likely.

Laundry Lines

Drying his clothes on a laundry line in his cell is “like it used to be in my neighborhood: / from all the tenements laundry hung window to window” (Lines 44-45). The word “tenements” refers to run-down, low-rent apartment buildings in poor neighborhoods, and air-drying clothes here symbolizes poverty, not environmental consciousness. In depicting clothes on laundry lines, the poet is not merely observing a visual similarity between his prison and pre-prison life; he reminds the reader that most prisoners come from neighborhoods mired in poverty, often neglected by social authorities, just like prisoners are. Baca also implies that in the face of neglect, violence, and socially imposed division, inmates (and perhaps disadvantaged people throughout society) must rely on mutual assistance and solidarity. That idea is embodied in this seemingly casual image: “Across the way Joey is sticking his hands / through the bars to hand Felipé a cigarette” (Lines 46-47).